!!!Dokumentarfilm

Documentary Film: A film genre in which factual material and events 
are reproduced (usually without a plot, or semi-dramatic). In the 
early days of  Films, filmmaking primarily consisted of documentaries, 
which later developed into discrete film genres, such as newsreels or 
informational, educational and cultural films.

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First attempts at documentaries were made between 1904 and 1908: R. 
Poech filmed in New Guinea and in the Kalahari, J. Halbritter 
documented everyday events (flower parade, car racing on the 
Semmering). H. Theyer produced cultural films about glass blowers, 
tanners and carpenters. In 1912, his work led to the foundation of the 
"Zentralstelle der wissenschaftlichen und Schulkinematographie", a 
central agency of scientific and educational cinematography. In 1909, 
the first Austrian documentary, "Die Kaisermanoever in Maehren" was 
shown. Other film pioneers include Louise and Anton  Kolm ("Der 
Faschingszug in Ober-St. Veit", "Der Trauerzug Seiner 
Exzellenz des Buergermeisters Dr. Karl Lueger", 1910) and S. 
Kolowrat ("Die Gewinnung des Erzes am steirischen Erzberg in 
Eisenerz", 1912); Alexander  Kolowrat-Krakowsky) produced 
documentaries and feature films.

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In 1918, the UFA studio in Berlin began to produce cultural films on 
popular scientific subjects, which were imitated by Austrian film 
makers, for example by K. Koefinger in his tourism films of the 1920s 
and later in the propaganda films of  Wien-Film between 1938 and 1945. 
In the post-war years cultural films transformed into tourism and 
advertising films, while continually losing significance with the 
spread of television.

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The newsreels, which for some time were even shown in their own news 
cinemas (in Vienna from 1936 as non-stop cinemas, and also in Linz, 
Salzburg and Innsbruck), were chronicle-like documentaries reporting 
on a mixture of politics, sport and culture. In 1914 the Vienna 
"Kriegs-Journal" ("War Journal") of the Vienna Kunstfilm was shown for 
the first time. It was followed by the "Sascha-Messter-Wochenschau" 
from 1931 to 1933, by an international newsreel using the Austrian 
Selenophon process from 1934 to 1938, and by "Oesterreich in Bild und 
Ton", the "Oesterreichische Wochenschau" ("Austria in Pictures and 
Sound", the Austrian Newsreel"). In the post-war period: 1946-1949 
"Welt im Film" ("World on Film", an Allied newsreel), from November 
1949, "Austria-Wochenschau" and "Weltjournal", produced by "Austria 
Wochenschau", currently producing under the name "Austria Film and 
Video GmbH".

!Literature
W. Fritz, Dokumentarfilme aus Oesterreich 1909-1914, 1980; 
H. Petschar and G. Schmid, Erinnerung und Vision, 1990.


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